MINNEAPOLIS — The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup occasionally seems like a trophy in search of a purpose. An in-season tournament can feel destined for that in a league whose season is already rather compressed. But the cup works as a gut check. It’s not a title. But it can be a crucial midseason test for contenders. And it's one that a compromised Indiana Fever roster managed to pass on Tuesday.
Without injured star Caitlin Clark, facing the best team in the league in the Minnesota Lynx, in a game uncharacteristically low on offense, Indiana came out on top, 74–59.
This is not how either team would have drawn it up. Indiana would have preferred not to limp into the Commissioner’s Cup final having lost three of its last five with an overall record of just .500. It would have preferred not to have experienced so much time without Clark, sidelined first with a hamstring injury and now with a groin issue, with her long-range shooting in a slump even when she has been on the floor. It would have preferred not to have navigated the high-profile exit of offseason signing DeWanna Bonner. This season has given them all of the above. It has now also brought them a trophy.
“We’ve had so many ups and downs, so many different things have happened throughout the course of the season up to Commissioner’s Cup,” said veteran Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell. “We haven’t got through a portion of the season, honestly. So to have so much going on and still stay consistent for each other—I mean, it was beautiful.”
Indiana has shown flashes of brilliance this year alongside stretches of baffling ineffectiveness. It has looked like a team built to win a championship and like a team built overnight. There were glimpses of both in the Commissioner’s Cup final on Tuesday. But the version that pulled through down the stretch was one that looked capable of handling just about anything.
The first quarter unfolded much like oddsmakers and prognosticators had expected, which is to say the Lynx built a comfortable, double-digit lead over the Fever. Yet that crumbled in the second quarter. Indiana shut down Minnesota in a way that no opponent has come remotely close to doing so far this year.
The Lynx entered Tuesday with the best record in the WNBA. A slew of stats demonstrates just how dominant they have been: No team has shot better from the field (46.7%) or finished its games with a bigger winning margin (11.2 points) or shared the ball more effectively (77% assisted shot rate). Minnesota finished an overtime short of a title last year. It has looked more than capable of avenging that close loss this year. No other roster has been nearly so complete in 2025.
“They look pretty flawless,” Fever coach Stephanie White said of the Lynx before the game. “I often say that offense is like a dance, and they’re flowing and making music, there’s no doubt about it.”
But the music stopped as that dance broke down entirely against the Fever. A group that ordinarily provides the most aesthetically pleasing basketball in the league—a glorious display of ball movement amid perfectly timed cuts and reads—instead looked completely lost. Indiana crashed the party, jamming every passing lane, disrupting every set play. The Fever ended the first half on an 18–0 run.
They did not allow much additional breathing room after that. It was a credit to forward Natasha Howard, who was voted Commissioner’s Cup MVP, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds. But it was most striking as a statement about how this group fit together as a whole. The Fever have spent much of the year struggling with their rotations, dealing with a variety of injuries and other absences, trying and sometimes failing to play at the right pace. But they found exactly what they needed on Tuesday.
That meant a balanced effort that saw five players finish in double figures despite their relatively low scoring overall.
It required the spark of new starter Aari McDonald, who originally joined the roster on a hardship contract in June, and now has a spot as a featured regular after the departure of Bonner. (“She pushes pace, pushes tempo, differently than anybody else that we have,” White said. “But she also sets the tone differently on the defensive end of the floor.”) It meant an increased presence for the rookie Makayla Timpson—who had not played more than five minutes in a game this season before the last five days but now has logged more than 10 minutes in each of the last two games for the Fever. Indiana did not have its biggest star. But it needed just about everyone else.
Clark’s range and vision create a unique sense of gravity on the floor. Her star power means that she has a similar pull even when just on the sideline. (Consider the cheers that she received in a road arena just for walking to the bench in sweats half an hour before tip-off.) Indiana’s game plan is not remotely the same without her. But it can still be strikingly effective.
“Learning to play without her, learning to make big plays in tough moments on both ends of the floor is important,” White said. “Caitlin’s somebody who oftentimes makes plays for them, and they’re learning how to make plays for one another… There’s no substitute for that experience. And I think it’s going to pay dividends for us down the road.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fever Pass Gut Check Without Caitlin Clark in Commissioner’s Cup.
